A word from our Chairman

The Government’s announcements this week announcing the safe return of spectators is welcomed and we look forward to greeting fans back into The Vale to watch the club play in the highest division of non-league football for the first time in over 30 years.

It is important to emphasise that the permitted attendances will be severely limited and significantly below the lower of 50% of capacity or 2,000 as permitted by the initial guidance for Tier 2.

We are also likely to build up to our maximum permitted attendance over a small number of games to ensure we can safely trial COVID protocols and ensure that we can operate safely with increased numbers.

We have explored the possibility of moving our home game versus Torquay United by 24 hours to allow some spectators to attend, however, this wasn’t possible and the game is to go ahead on Tuesday 1 December as scheduled.

Our away fixture versus Barnet will not be open to away fans however this game will be streamed for those unable to attend. We are exploring holding a supporters lunch at The Vale Social Club to include the streaming of the game versus Barnet that complies with the latest guidance for the hospitality sector. We will update supporters on arrangements if this is able to proceed.

Our first home fixture post 2 December will be Weymouth on Saturday 12 December and we will be announcing plans on the capacity and ticketing arrangements for this game when they are finalised. The National League continues to provide timely and valuable guidance and there is an all club call on Tuesday 1 December where further information will be shared. It is unlikely that we will be able to share detailed plans until after this call.

Finally, season tickets are available and we are working on how best to distribute these to season ticket holders. We expect to continue to stream our home matches throughout December and season ticket holders unable to attend will still be able to view the stream free of charge.

The ability for supporters to attend games is a positive development as everyone manages the impact of COVID-19 and restrictions on their lifestyle and wellbeing. We will issue guidance for spectators attending games at The Vale and ask that everyone follows this to help protect their own safety and the safety of fellow spectators, players and staff.

Rory Fitzgerald - Chairman